There is no shortage of outrage in right-wing media about how much pro athletes who protest are paid as if that has anything to do with exercising one’s first amendment right to peacefully redress grievances.

We hear little, though, about the fact that until 2009 players did not take the field until after the anthem was over.

We also never hear boo about the myriad ways in which we inadvertently desecrate the flag every day.

The U.S. Flag Code outlines how Old Glory is supposed to be displayed and maintained.

And it’s pretty clear even the most ardently patriotic among us are in violation of it most of the time.

Remember all those napkins, plates, and cups you bought for the Fourth of July? Pretty patriotic, but also against flag code Section 8(i):

“It should not be embroidered on such articles as cushions or handkerchiefs and the like, printed or otherwise impressed on paper napkins or boxes or anything that is designed for temporary use and discarded.”

Nowhere does the Flag Code prohibit kneeling.

In 2015, against police chief William Bratton’s request, dozens of New York City police officers protested Mayor Bill de Blasio during services honoring a police officer who was killed in the line of duty.

They did not take a knee. They turned their backs.

Had they knelt, it might have been interpreted as genuflecting before their leader, which likely would have appeared merely bizarre, not rebellious.

“In the early 1980s, ‘take a knee’ started to appear more frequently for situations in which an entire team would kneel, as for a group prayer, a pep talk from the coach, or a similar moment of solidarity.”

Remember how this controversy started.

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick originally decided to sit during the anthem, but former Green Beret Nate Boyer reached out and suggested Kaepernick take a knee instead because of its obvious respectful symbolism.